1869.] Vesuvius. 189 



On the contrary, we recall the writings of Sir W. Hamilton,* 

 Professor Babbage,t Mr. Or. Poulett Scrope,^ Dr. Daubeny,§ 

 Principal Forbes, |j Sir Charles Lyell,T[ Charles Darwin,** and 

 many others who have each contributed a share to the world's store 

 of knowledge on volcanic phenomena, and largely to the history of 

 Vesuvius itself. 



Any book therefore which may now be written upon Vesuvius, 

 must of necessity draw largely upon these already written histories, 

 and its author must be likewise indebted to Padre Delia Torre, 

 (iluiscardi, Monticelli, Palmieri, and other foreigners who have given 

 special attention to this volcanic mountain. 



Nor can any description of Vesuvius be complete which does 

 not include the account given by Pliny the younger of the eruption 

 of A.D. 79, in which the elder PHny lost his life.ft This eruption 

 justly deserves the attention it has received of all subsequent 

 historians, not only from the loss of the celebrated naturalist Pliny, 

 but also because of the sudden overwhelming of those large and 

 populous cities, Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabias, which at that 

 time stood in the Campania on the shores of the Bay of Naples, and 

 the exploration of whose buried streets and palaces has added so 

 largely to our knowledge of the arts and civilization of the ancient 

 Eomans. 



" Through eighteen centuries," writes Professor Phillips, " the 

 dwellers round the Bay of Naples have watched with mingled pride, 

 wonder, and alarm, the great sohtary mountain whose shadow in 

 the morning stretched across the sea, and whose evening splendour 

 threw into far distance the snowy peaks of the Apennines. 



" Well might they be proud of so fair a prospect. All around 

 the mountain, and even climbmg to half its height, stretch vine- 

 yards and orange-groves, populous towns and prosperous villages, 

 churches, palaces, and ports ; the well-paved road, and the Strada 

 Ferrata. Here the Norman built his fortress, the Pioman reared 

 his amphitheatre ; and long before the bii'th of Pome, the wan- 

 dering Greek or Phoenician trader laid the foundations of Cumae 

 and Passtrum, perhaps as long after an earlier race had built the 

 giant walls of Arpinum and Alatrium, Ferentinum and Venafrum. 

 Such has ever been this fertile land since history began to shed 



* Campi Fhlegrcci. Fol. Naples, 177G. 



t 'Gcog. Pioc.,' vol. ii. p. 72; and 'Jth ' Bridge water Treatise,' p. 200. 



X Sorope, 'On Volcauoes,' 2nd edition, 1SG2. 



§ D.iubeny, 'On Volcanoes,' 2ud edit., 1848; and Qlakt. Joukn. of Science, 

 vol. iii., p. 199. 



II Forbes, in Brewster's 'Edinburgh Journ.,' 1829, &c., vol. iv., p. 12; and 

 'Miscellanies,' vol. i., part 2. 



1 Lyell's ' Principles.' 10th edit., vol. i., pp. 598-654. 

 ** Darwin, ' On Volcanic Islands,' &c. 



tt Plhiius Ccpcilius Secundus (CW«ms) to Cornelius Tacitus. Book vi., Epistle xvi. 

 and Epistle xx. 



